


Promise Me

by dandelionknight



Series: Pearlmethyst week 2018 [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Human, Childhood Friends, Drinking, F/F, Prohibition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 15:02:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16600214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandelionknight/pseuds/dandelionknight
Summary: After a long day, Amethyst just wants a drink.





	Promise Me

Amethyst sat, tucked away in the last free table in the corner of the bustling Smile’s Club and tried to enjoy her drink. Oh the house, Mr. Smiley had said. The family and by extension, Amethyst, provided him with the high-class booze he needed to keep the folks and the money rolling in. And tonight he had needed someone discreet – a rush job. Amethyst didn’t mind that; he was always good to her even if she felt out of place in a joint as fancy as this. 

None of the club’s patrons paid her any mind. Their types never did. It was a private sort of affair – the town’s elite were celebrating something. She squinted at the crowd. Was that… Mayor Dewey? Any other day and she would have laughed to see the newly elected mayor, darling of the teetotalers, making a pitiful mess of the Charleston.

But the day had been long; Jasper had been louder than usual despite everything going according to plan. The car had been stopped by some cops, just because she was driving a little too fast, and they had done a cursory inspection of the car. They were too blind to notice the trunk’s false bottom. Amethyst considered it a success – a simple delivery from their stores but Jasper had chewed her out for it for nearly an hour. It had always been like this, even when they were kids; Jasper was the boss and Amethyst had to know it. 

She didn’t see why her sister was so uptight; they were doing good, business was good and most of the county officials were in their pockets. Hell, she’d bet more than half of them drank the stuff they provided. Prohibition was a stupid law – even she could see that.

Her bad mood compounded as she watched the sharp cut guys with their dates all dolled up for the occasion, dancing to tonight’s band; the Cool Cats. Something sour twisted in her stomach but she couldn’t blame it on rotgut moonshine; it was the good stuff, she knew, smuggled in from Canada. It wasn’t quite jealousy, but it wasn’t not jealously. She’d never been able to dance with who she wanted like that. What was that called? Envy? Whatever. She tried to ignore the feeling as always, took another drink and tapped her foot to the music

“Do you mind some company?” a voice, soft and feminine broke her out of her thoughts. 

“Uh, sure. Yeah,” she looked up at the source. A woman, tall and slim, dressed in one of those straight cut, beaded dresses that were all the rage these days. A long necklace of pearls looped around her elegant neck.  
Something about her seemed familiar, but it could have been wishful thinking.

“Thank you,” the woman flashed a genuine smile. Even in the dim corner, Amethyst noticed the reddish tint to the stranger’s fashionably short hair. 

The hemline of her dress rose when the woman took her seat, giving Amethyst quite the show of long legs. Amethyst blamed the heat she felt burning up her face on the booze and hoped her tan skin hid the blush. 

“Sorry, I just needed to get away from it all,” the woman said. She drained the remainder of the glass she had been holding in one swallow.

“Woah, clearly.”

“That’s not my first of the night I’m afraid. And maybe not the last. It takes a lot to get through these appearances.” She paused. “I’m Pearl by the way.” 

“I’m Amethyst.”

They sat in silence for a few long minutes. Amethyst decided to break it but before she could, Pearl beat her to it.

“May I ask what’s troubling you? I couldn’t help but notice you – I mean notice you here, in the corner. By yourself.”

“I’m surprised anyone did,” Amethyst answered honestly while still dodging the question. She couldn’t go telling everyone who came by about her life as a bootlegger and her problems – especially to a society girl. 

“Sorry, we don’t have to talk about it. We can talk about something else if you like; music, fashion, the weather perhaps? Or nothing at all.” 

Amethyst was beginning to think Pearl was the chatty sort of drunk. She watched the graceful dance of the other woman’s fingers as she illustrated her words in the air. Maybe the drink was making her poetic instead. 

“Nah its fine, it’s nothing. So, what’s bothering you though? ”

“The party just got a little too much for me, that’s all.” 

Amethyst could tell by the look on the other woman’s face that she was lying. That was obvious. But what was she going to do about it; apparently they both had secrets.

Silence settled on the conversation like a funeral shroud. 

Amethyst played with a strand of her long, brown hair that had escaped at some point during the day.

Pearl ran her thumb along the edge of her glass. She seemed to be weighing her options. 

“Well – “

“Actually –“

They burst into a fit of giggles.

“Ladies first,” Amethyst said, sweeping her arm in a dramatic gesture.

“Well, if you insist, go ahead then,” Pearl teased.

Amethyst blushed for the second time that evening. “Ah, well it’s just my older sister. She’s been on my case about the, uh, family business and everything else too. It’s not a big deal.”

“Family always is though, isn’t it? I understand.” 

The pause between them was much more comfortable this time. 

“What about you, Pearl?”

Pearl looked around in the tell-tale way of someone with something to hide then leaned across the table. Amethyst found herself leaning in too until they were only a few inches apart. 

Her voice was a low whisper when she spoke. “Can you keep a promise?” 

“Sure, I can keep a promise.”

Pearl cast another glance around the room. 

“Not here.”

Pearl led her out the back door and into the cool night air behind the building. She could still hear the music. 

“You don’t recognize me, do you?”

She studied her acquaintance’s face; sky blue eyes and a faint smile curving her lips. Recognition struck her like a bullet.

“Pierogi?!”

Pearl laughed, “Took you long enough. I wasn’t sure if it was you at first but when I saw your long ‘I’m mad at Jasper’ face I knew it was you.”

Amethyst threw her arms around her old friend. Pearl hugged her back.

“It been years since you moved! When did you get back in town?” Amethyst pulled back. “And since when did you become a flapper?” 

“I’ve been living in Empire City actually. That’s a long story in itself but I saw you in the paper a month ago with Jasper and hopped on the next train over but you’re a hard woman to track down. I’ve been singing at Mr.  
Smiley’s a few nights a week. I suppose it was fate that I forgot my purse last night.” 

Amethyst looked up at eyes softer than cotton clouds.

“And you? It seems like you’ve made quite the name for yourself since I left. A wing in the hospital named after you and everything.” 

Amethyst laughed and scuffed a shoe against the ground.

“We – me, Jasper and the cousins – we’ve gotten in to, uh, business you could say.”

“And I suppose that business is pharmacy? Medicinal whiskey?”

“And I suppose you could say that. I wouldn’t answer though. Jasper’d bump me off.”

“Some things never change at least” 

They stood in comfortable silence, letting the music and the moonlight wash over them. 

“You know,” Pearl began, “you did promise me something before I moved. Do you remember?”

“That we’d dig our way clean through to China? That you’d become the first lady aviator and fly us round the world? That I’d fight anyone who bugged you? That we’d live together til we got old and gray? ”

Pearl shook her head. 

“It was that you’d teach me to dance.”

Pearl’s slim fingers threaded perfectly through Amethyst’s. 

“The others can wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> Here's day 2: 1920's. Please forgive me for any and all mistakes about the time period. Thanks as always for reading! c:


End file.
